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What Does Christmas Really Mean?

Monday, November 30, 2015 18:36

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(Before It's News)

Do you celebrate the holidays?

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Whatever religion you are, or the spiritual person you may be or not be, many people get in huge debt over the holidays, here’s some tips to help you stay on track.

Excessive spending during the holidays leads many people to a New Year full of debt. Is that any way to come out in the green by the time the next Christmas season comes around? If you want to avoid falling into a financial rut on an annual basis, then you should consider the following steps this year.

plan your gift list

Before you begin your last-minute Christmas shopping, you should know whom you’re buying gifts for in the first place. Once the list is made, look into how much you would ideally like to spend for each and every person on the list.

Planning a gift list and then allocating an amount to each and every person seems very rigid, but the truth of the matter is that you need to have some idea of what your Christmas budget is like. By doing so, you’re setting a spending limit.

Most guys tend to wait until the last minute and then shop at the nearest mall, with all the parking hassles and crowds. If you’re not a big fan of these constant annoyances, then why not plan your Christmas shopping early? Seems simple enough…

Once you know who you’re shopping for and what you’re getting them, the difficult part will be sticking to the list, since the “wow” factor of some things might lead you to buy impulsively. A good trick is to carry cash instead of bundles of plastic cards, and only bring what you intend on spending. This will make it a lot easier to stick to the plan.

don’t rush

Always keep in mind that unplanned shopping tends to promote impulse buying, which leads to overspending.

However, if you intend on planning your shopping for next Christmas, then you might consider taking your time when making your Christmas purchases. This will allow you to put a little more thought into the gifts as well as find the right bargains. It’s a win-win situation; the person receiving the gift will appreciate it more since more thought was put into it, and it will surely cost you less considering you went bargain hunting and had time to shop around.

use debt wisely

In the unfortunate circumstance where you would have to charge your Christmas gift, consider using an ATM debit card instead of the infamous Visa or MasterCard. Take out a line of credit and transfer it to your savings/checking account, which can be accessed with a debit card.

After Christmas, consider taking advantage of those post-holiday sales for people that will be on your Christmas list next year. Begin your holiday budget early, so you can spread it out over the whole year, instead of the usual crunch in December.

give me a break!

Because it’s Christmas, people believe that shopping themselves into the financial red is acceptable. But let’s be realistic; not many reasons justify putting yourself into a difficult situation, and I imagine that those close to you would not be keen on the idea that you went all out when you could not afford it.

No one likes the idea of regulating their Christmas shopping, yet when the season is over and all the shopping has been completed, the majority of people start complaining about the difficult times they had financially in January. If you are one of those people, then budgeting your holiday spending is definitely for you.

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